BEREA -- Three extra days off between games could not have come at a better time for injured safety T.J. Ward.

Ward suffered a broken right thumb Thursday night in Baltimore but remained on the field for every defensive snap. The thumb was surgically repaired "a couple days ago," head coach Pat Shurmur said after practice Monday.

Ray Ventrone, an integral part of the special teams and a backup safety, had a similar injury to his left hand. He broke his thumb on the opening kickoff of the season opener. He played the entire game and then had a plate implanted in the back of his hand.

Ventrone missed the game in Cincinnati one week after the opener. It was so painful he had to put on his socks with only one hand. Ventrone was back for the game against Buffalo the third week and played against the Ravens.

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Shurmur is hopeful Ward will be ready to play against the Giants. Ward missed the last half of 2011 with a foot injury.

"It's going to take a lot to keep him off the field," free safety Usama Young said. "I know T.J. will try to fight through it."

Young could move to strong safety, as he did when Ward was injured last year. Eric Hagg could move back to the starting job at free safety, which he held until the Browns gave up three passing touchdown touchdowns in Cincinnati. Hagg was inactive the last two games.

"I'm very confident that if he's in there, he's going to great," Shurmur said of Hagg. "If he's called on to play, he'll go in there and of course we expect he'll have a very productive game."

The 0-4 Browns are ranked 25th in team offense and 25th in team defense before the Bears and Cowboys played on Monday night. The Bears ranked 26th offensively before their game Monday.

Offensive struggles are nothing new to the Browns. The biggest difference so far between 2011 and this year is pass defense. The Browns ranked second in pass defense in 2011 and are 28th a quarter of the way through the season.

Shurmur says points allowed are more important than where the team ranks. Last year the Browns allowed 16 passing touchdowns through all of 2011. They have allowed nine this season, which projects to 36 allowed through the air.

The average should decline when cornerback Joe Haden returns from his suspension next Monday. Haden was booted four games for violating the league's performance enhancement policy. He has missed three games.

Fair catch

Punt coverage was a major problem for the Browns in the first three games. One reason they were able to fight the Ravens to the end last week is Reggie Hodges punted seven times for a 41.4 average. The Ravens had zero yardage in punt returns.

The turn-around enabled the Browns to climb from 15th to eighth with a 36.6 net average.

Hodges has punted 26 times and had only one touchback. But he has put only eight punts inside the 20, which illustrates how many times the Browns have punted from deep in their own territory.